Ring Around the Blood Red Roses
by Hobbsy3
Summary: "He had not known that it would end here, in a bloodied battleground that married the proximity of ancient battles and invasions with modern weapons in the middle of nowhere. Bilbo was going to die for a dead city." A quick snippet of Bagginshield in the midst of the horror of war, set in a modern AU. My hilariously unromantic attempt at romance, so I hope you enjoy.


**Yo! So, this is a oneshot that I wrote when I was asked to write some romance for a seminar class. I'm not good with romance, so I wrote a modern AU fanfic and took that in :) I thought I'd stick it on here and see what you guys think - it's my first slash fiction and even my first romance, so I hope you enjoy it :D**

 **Read, enjoy and review :)**

 ** _Ring Around the Blood Red Roses_**

However loud he screamed, Bilbo could not see a way out of this nightmare. He had never expected to find himself here, in the middle of a battlefield, fighting for his life while men and women and children crumpled to the ground around him. It was a mess, a bloody, bloody mess, and he was starting to realise that it was a mess he would not survive.

Why was he here? Why did he have to leave home? Why?

A familiar battle cry reached his ears and he turned, his heart stuttering despite itself at the sight of the man tearing through the invaders with a machine gun that sounded like a dragon. Oh. That was why he was here.

 _But Thorin turned his back on you,_ a little voice reminded him. _Thorin_ exiled _you, he doesn't want you! You can run now, you can run!_

God, Bilbo wanted to run. It was all he wanted. An enemy soldier made a grab for his gun and he cried out, pulling the trigger and blasting the man flinched. He had no idea this thing was so powerful. It should not be in his hands. His shaking, inexperienced hands.

He was such a fool. He should have known that allowing himself to be lured out of home by the stormy-eyed enigmatic stranger was a bad move. From the day they met everything about Thorin had screamed emotionally unavailable, but Bilbo had ignored that. Why?

Oh, yeah. He thought he was doing the right thing. Seeing the displaced back to a safe home, taking down a tyrant, it had all seemed so admirable before. He had not known that it would end here, in a bloodied battleground that married the proximity of ancient battles and invasions with modern weapons in the middle of nowhere. Bilbo was going to die for a dead city.

One scream rose above the others around him, and it rose because it was familiar. Paralysingly so. Bilbo craned his neck, searching desperately for his screaming friend.

"Fíli?" he cried, but his voice was lost amidst the battle roar. " _Fíli!"_

He shoved his gun into the eye of an enemy in his way and plowed on, and then he saw the eighteen year old crumpled on the ground at the mercy of a masked man. Fíli's arms were pressed against his stomach but blood was oozing through them, slipping down his arms at a startling rate.

"Fíli!" Bilbo battled to reach the boy but he already knew that it was going to be too late, the man levelled the gun and -

"No!" the shriek brought more terror to Bilbo's heart as fourteen year old Kíli shielded his brother's body with his own.

Bilbo screamed himself as he heard the gunshots cracking through the air. He brought up his own gun and fired without mercy, pulling the trigger again and again and again until the masked man fell.

Crumpling to his own knees, Bilbo shook Kíli's shoulder. "Kíli? Fíli? Kíli!"

Kíli moaned slightly but his eyes were closed and remained so. His brother choked and coughed, gazing at Bilbo with eyes that would not focus.

"Bilbo… here? Kíli?"

"I'm here," Bilbo cleared his throat. "I'm here, Fíli. Kíli… Kíli's here too…"

"Fíli? Kíli?" Thorin's battle cry mutated into a wail of pure terror and Bilbo knew that he had seen everything.

He looked up and met the eyes of the man who had broken his heart. God, did that seem inconsequential now… Bilbo would take Thorin's rejection, his hatred, a thousand times if it would see him live through this mess. For Thorin's nephews, for the rest of their companions… For them to survive, Bilbo would have given his life.

Thorin broke through the throng of fighters and his eyes filled with tears that Bilbo had seen only once before.

"My boys…" Thorin's lips moved, but if there was any sound Bilbo could not hear it. And then he screamed. " _Fíli! Kíli!"_

He took a step forward, but then he saw Bilbo and his eyes filled with horror. Bilbo's stomach twisted and he looked away, taking Fíli's hand. This was why he was still here. To look after the frightened little boys that had ended up on a battlefield. Not to form some pathetic romantic subplot with an emotionally constipated ass.

" _Bilbo!"_ Thorin screamed, but even as he did he fell, and the blood was pooling beneath him so quickly that Bilbo's own heart stopped.

And then the back of Bilbo's head exploded in pain.

And it was then that the world went black.

* * *

Bilbo is woken by two little chubby hands shaking his shoulders. For a moment he cannot breathe and it has nothing to do with the four year old sitting on his chest.

"Uncle Bilbo! Uncle Bilbo, wake up, wake up!"

"Frodo?" he gasps. "What are you doing here?"

"You were screaming," Frodo's lip trembles and his fists twist into Bilbo's nightshirt. "It's just a nightmare, Uncle Bilbo, I promise!"

For a moment, Bilbo cannot reply. He is still being choked by his dream – Frodo's big blue eyes just look like Fíli's, bloodshot and desperate and fading, and his dark hair falls over his eyes the same way that Kíli's hair fell before blood plastered it down. The combination looks like Fíli and Kíli's uncle, it looks like the idiotic, stubborn, egotistical, _wonderful_ Thorin.

It takes Bilbo's breath away.

"But, but everything's going to be fine," Frodo nods as if there aren't tears dribbling off of the end of his chin and landing in his uncle's lap. "Don't worry, Uncle Bilbo, I'm gonna make everything okay!" He scrambles out of the room, yelling as he goes. "Auntie Dís! Auntie Dís!"

The quiet sound of wheels on the floor precedes the soft glow of electric light.

"Uncle Bilbo?"

Bilbo's eyes widen and he cringes against the headboard. "Fíli? No, god no just leave me alone! I'm sorry, I'm sorry-"

"No, it's okay, Uncle Bilbo," Fíli smiles sadly and grips Bilbo's hand. "I'm alive, it's okay. I'm not a ghost. We're all alive. We're all okay."

"What?" Bilbo stammered.

"We survived, Uncle Bilbo. This is just a memory lapse, brought on by a night-terror. That's what the doctor said." The wheelchair bound boy's words are gentle, and they bring Bilbo back to the present with a groan.

"I'm so sorry, Fíli. Did I wake you?"

"Nah," the blonde grins. "Kíli did that already. He had a competition with Oli to see who could drink the most Coca-Cola before they choked on the bubbles about ten minutes before we went to bed. He keeps falling over _my_ bed on the way to the loo."

Bilbo can't help but smile slightly.

The grip of the memory is loosening now, and he can remember the healing that came after the hell. He can remember how relieved he was when Kíli woke, when Finn spoke. When Thorin's first muttered word was Bilbo's name. He can remember adopting Frodo, bringing him back to live with Thorin and the others.

Frodo's pitter-patter footsteps give them a moment's warning before he drags the sleepy mother of Fíli and Kíli with him.

"See, Auntie Dís!" Frodo says. "Uncle Bilbo needs some help, coz, coz the bad nightmares are back."

"But it's okay!" Kíli calls, feeling his way into the room with a pillow and duvet in his hands. "We're here now."

"Here?" Bilbo blinks.

"Well, we can't let you suffer through PTSD all on your own," Fíli tuts. "Mam, can you pass me the sleeping bag-"

"No, you're having the couch," Dís says firmly. "Kíli can have the sleeping bag. No point in messing up your back any more than it already is."

Fíli stares at her incredulously. "Mother. It is quite literally severed. I cannot _possibly_ screw it up more by sleeping on the floor."

"Yeah," Kíli grins a grin that would have lit up his eyes, if they had not been burnt beyond salvation. "But you could lose the use of your-"

"Couch, now," Dís clicks her tongue and Fíli obeys with a roll of his eyes.

"Just _what_ do you think you're all doing?" Bilbo stammers.

"We're camping," Frodo says. "To keep the bad dreams away 'til Uncle Thorin gets back."

"What?"

"My, you're not very perceptive after waking up from a nightmare in the middle of the night to…" Kíli frowns. "I did not think that sentence through. Meh. You get a pass, Uncle Bilbo."

"Uncle Thorin always camps in my room when I have nightmares," Frodo explains.

"He does?"

"Mmhm," Frodo clambers into bed with Bilbo and snuggles against his side. "And he's gonna be back soon. Just a few more days."

"Now, I'm going back to my room – if anyone needs me, send Frodo. His yelling could wake up the whole village."

Frodo giggles proudly. "Nighty-night Auntie Dís!"

"Night-night," she replies, turning off the light and closing the door on them all.

"This is not very comfy," Kíli complains after a moment

"No-one's saying you can't sleep in bed," Bilbo yawns and closes his eyes.

He can feel his wedding ring pressing gently into his finger from where his hand is wedged beneath Frodo's back. It brings him almost as much comfort as his boys do. The surgery went well - Thorin will be out of hospital again in a few short days.

But Bilbo's peace does not last.

"Ow! Kíli, get out of my bed!"

"It's comfy here Uncle Bilbo!" the fourteen year old sings. "And you love me, don't you?"

"For god's sake, what would your mother say?"

Kíli raises his voice an octave. "'Keelan Darrow, get your godforsaken backside out of that bed before I slap you.' But Mam's not here. So you're stuck with me. Night."

Once again, Bilbo can't help but smile.

"G'night."

 **There, I hope you liked that ridiculous attempt at romance, haha! Please do leave a review if you liked it, or if you didn't.**

 **Thanks for reading :)**


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